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Jan 29, 2012

Tatiana rated it:

Skin Hunger landed on my only-i-will-like shelf due to a number of reasons.

First, there is an issue of two separate story lines that never come together in any significant way. They mingle and have common themes and characters, but they never merge. That, I assume, will happen at some future point in the trilogy.

In an unidentified middle age-inspired fantasy land where magic is lost and those who call themselves magicians are fakers and charlatans, 17-year old farm girl S More...

17 comments like (22 people liked it)

Feb 20, 2009

Sam rated it:

Skin Hunger is the first installment of a new magic-based trilogy called A Resurrection of Magic. The book alternates chapters between the stories of two separate protagonists- Sadima and Hahp.

Sadima is a farm girl whose family is betrayed by a false magician during her birth. She grows up with a father who is completely broken inside and is unable to enjoy much even in her rural life. She has an unnatural connection with animals, and feels as though she can communicate with them th More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Apr 03, 2010

Elizabeth P rated it:

I can't deny that this book has excellent, beautiful writing. Or suspense and cliffhangers at the end of each chapter that made me frantically think "must keep reading until the book is finished." However, I was distressed by all of the abuse.
Abuse was a disturbing trend in this book. Within the first 5 pages there are three instances of abusive behavior. The rest of the novel doesn't get better. There are many instances of abusive behavior, most notably between Hahp's fathe More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

May 11, 2008

Jennifer rated it:

Reviewed by Natalie Tsang for TeensReadToo.com

Despite what the cover may say, Kathleen Duey's SKIN HUNGER, first installment of her fantasy trilogy A RESURRECTION OF MAGIC, is not a novel. It's a third of a novel. Or maybe it's two novels. Maybe it's a sixth. But anyway you slice the cake, it's not enough.

The book alternates chapters narrated by Sadima, a farm girl, and Hahp, a second born son of a cruel merchant. The catch is that they live several generations apart. On More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Dec 06, 2007

Christina rated it:

Interesting book with two alternating stories that at first appear unrelated, but then start to be connected to each other. One story is about a girl, Sadima, whose mother dies when she is born. She is raised by her father and older brother on a farm, very poor and isolated from the world. Eventually she moves out to the city, to find a helpful young man she met only once, and try to make a living working as a maid for him and his master. Meanwhile, you read about a young boy, Hahp, who is being More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 22, 2007

Jess rated it:

While the parallel stories are compelling, the world is fascinating, and the characters complex, I just didn't click with either of the main characters, and that took the story down a notch for me. Still, it's a strong book with a cliff-hanger of an ending and lots of unresolved bits and pieces that will definitely have me picking up the next installment. Although fantasy, the fantastic elements are almost beside the point, with the learning of magic centered more around almost-forgotten rhyme More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Feb 16, 2008

Laura rated it:

I really wish the second book in this series was already out. I hate having to wait!!

The book follows two different characters, Sadima and Hahp, who live in different time periods but whose stories are intertwined. Sadima's world is one almost devoid of magic; the kings banished and killed the magicians long ago. In Hahp's world, magic has been restored and is used for everything by those who have the means. Hahp is chosen to go to a special Academy along with 9 other boys. One of t More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 24, 2007

Nicola rated it:

Skin Hunger is the first book in the trilogy A Resurrection of Magic.It was short-listed for the National Book Award and should have won...but I haven't finished Sherman Alexie's winning novel yet, so I had better reserve judgement. When I got to the last page, I kept turning it in disbelief that the book was over. I mourned for about a week and then forced any sixth grader who reads fantasy to read it so they could mourn with me. Yes, it is irritating that there was no resolution, but isn't tha More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 18, 2009

Glenna rated it:

This book was a finalist last year for the national book award. It is another fantasy story of magic and young people. This is the first in a trilogy and the only one out so far. There are two different stories going on, that start to overlap part way through the book. The story line is different than most of this genre and time will tell whether it will be great or not. Unfortunately near the end of the book, someone felt it necessary to throw in the "f" word. Just once, and it i More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 21, 2007

Lauren rated it:

This is a beautifully written and constructed fantasy that takes a clever twist on the world of magic. Her take on magic reminds me of the world of magic portrayed in the Magic or Madness trilogy. Both show the evil and power hungry sides of magic. They both show magic destroys as much as it creates.

The alternating stories balance each other quite nicely: female voice alternating with male voice, optimism about magic alternating with pessimism about magic, etc. I can't wait for the More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 26, 2011

Mely rated it:

Parallel timelines, centuries apart: Sadima, who can communicate mentally with animals, becomes the servant of two would-be mages, Franklin and Somiss, who are attempting to rediscover the magic that may have led to a world-changing holocaust or war. Centuries later, Hahp, despised by his nouveau riche father, is deposited in the wizards' school. The headmaster, Somiss, tells the incoming class of eleven that only one or none of them will graduate a wizard, and the school's "courses" More...

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Dec 07, 2011

Baba Yaga rated it:

Sadima lives in a world where magic has been banned, leaving poor villagers prey to fakes and charlatans. A "magician" stole her family's few valuables and left Sadima's mother to die on the day Sadima was born. But vestiges of magic are hidden in old rhymes and hearth tales and in people like Sadima, who conceals her silent communication with animals for fear of rejection and ridicule. When rumors of her gift reach Somiss, a young nobleman obsessed with restoring magic, he sends Frank More...

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Aug 13, 2011

Alice rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Jul 10, 2011

DelSheree rated it:

this was a really interesting book. ryan and i really enjoyed it, but it was incredibly slow through most of the book. i had no idea how old the kids were until we started book two. turns out they're like 10 or 11, which explains why the MC got so whiney and cried every five minutes, but at the time we thought he was 16 and the whining and crying got really annoying. Sadima's story was really good as well. my biggest complaint about this and the second book, which we're halfway through, is that More...

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Apr 16, 2011

Laura rated it:

I grabbed this book last July when two different people (one of them Holly Black) recommended it. I admit -- it took a couple of tries. The first two times I started it, it didn't grab me. But this third time - I was pulled in and couldn't put it down. As Black notes on the blurb, this book is fierce. Duey doesn't pull any punches. She puts her characters through incredible pain while the reader watches, helpless, hoping that they'll find a way out.

The book is written with alternating More...

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Dec 31, 2010

Lady rated it:

http://antredeslivres.hautetfort.com/arc...

Ce qui est bien c’est qu’on rentre vraiment dans l’histoire dès les premières pages, enfin plutôt, dès le premier paragraphe, et on en ressort pas avant d’avoir lu la dernière page. C’est le genre de livre qui vous trotte dans la tête tout au long de la journée, vous pousse à vous poser plein de questions, celui qu’on veut absolument continuer alors qu’on doit travailler ! C’est une histoire vraiment prenante, très mystérieuse aussi. On ne co More...

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Jul 02, 2010

Suzanne rated it:

I listened to this book over a year ago, and I didn't remember that I had until I was ten or so pages into the print version. Since I didn't bring that many books with me for our mountain trip, I went ahead and read it again in part because I couldn't for the life of me remember how it ended. Now I know why I didn't remember the ending: It was rather a non-event. Such a cliff hanger that there really isn't quite sufficient resolution.

That notwithstanding, it is still a nicely crafte More...

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Apr 17, 2010

Reading rated it:

I do not understand where all the awards came from. This book was sloooooow, hardly anything ever happened. It was so very depressing also. Reading about all those boys starving day after day was not pleasant. It was slow - as I mentioned - lacking plot, flat characters and from what I hear... NO ending! I did not get to that point, I stopped after 250 pages. I could not get myself to read the last 100. It makes me quite angry when I have to set a book down midway through it. I actually get ang More...

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Jan 23, 2010

Cindy rated it:

This is a wonderful story that weaves together the stories of two teens, Sadima and Hahp. They live in a world where magic effects both of their lives. Sadima, whose mother dies giving birth to her, live out her life with a father bitter who is bitter about her mothers death. Sadima, a young woman who can communicate with animals, meets an interesting young man while helping her goat give birth. He figures out her unique gift and tells her to come visit one day. After her father passes awa More...

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Jan 04, 2010

April rated it:

Skin Hunger is absolutely mis-titled. The only skin to skin contact is a handshake at the end between Gerrard and Hahp. The book alternates chapters, one about Sadimaand one about Hahp. Sadima was born under the direction and danger of a false magician who was in the bedroom with the mother and baby, but was busy stealing all the goods instead of helping. She left the mother dead and the baby, Sadima, on the floor, cold and almost dead. Sadima grows up with magical abilities, but because of her More...

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Nov 22, 2009

Katie rated it:

Skin Hunger is a dark and compelling fantasy novel. It alternates chapters of two separate stories set centuries apart, though some connections manifest in the novel and more are promised in the sequels. In one, a girl named Sadima grows up poor on a farm, hiding her ability to communicate with animals. She moves to the city to help Franklin, servant to the brilliant and disturbed young nobleman Somiss, in their efforts to rediscover magic. The other story is set much later, in a world where More...

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May 18, 2009

Shawna rated it:

This double-narrative fantasy book begins buy working it's way up to where it deepens into a potent and affecting story of struggle. First, a small farm boy begs a magician (healer) to help his mother through childbirth, but the magician's corrupt and leaves the baby on the floor and the mother dead. The baby is Sadima. Sadima grows up able to read animals' minds and eventually seeks the city, where she joins two intense young men: tempestuously abusive Somiss, madly trying to capture ancient l More...

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May 01, 2009

Wealhtheow rated it:

Take any of those twee stories about wizarding school and then shove bleak, black despair down its throat. That's this book. It starts out sweet and cliched: a little farm girl can commune with animals, but her father hates magic; a little boy is about to enroll in wizard school. The chapters are short, without much to them. As the characters get older and the story grows more complex, the chapters cease being little cute snippets of their lives and become longer. With time, as more of eac More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 05, 2010

Sean rated it:

I like to be fairly analytical about why I do or don’t like a book, but in the case of Skin Hunger I’m going to be brief. I didn’t enjoy it, and I can narrow in on two very specific reasons why.

The book is composed of two alternating narratives: Sadima lives during a period where magic is outlawed (according to the back cover…it’s never made entirely clear in the story itself) while Hahp lives an indeterminate amount of time later, when magic has been restored. Herein lies the book’s d More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 22, 2011

Thao rated it:

Pure awesomeness. This book was great. I could not stop reading, and I refrained myself from reading the end because I was so curious.

I was in the academy, sitting next to Haph, while he struggled to survive the difficulties. I wanted to punch his father so badly, half because of his treatment to his family, half because of how arrogant and how stupid he is.

I tried to do the breathing patterns as Haph did, I tried to move my thoughts down to my toes. When he starved, I felt g More...

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Apr 18, 2010

Stephanie rated it:

This book was dark and gritty, and parts of it were thoroughly frightening. This the type of book that appeals to both boys and girls because of the balance between romance (Sadima's story) and harsh survival (Hahp's story). I enjoyed Sadima's side of the story a little more, maybe because I don't have the stomach to visualize Hahp's experience in the wizard academy. I thought both Sadima and Hahp were compelling narrators, although their stories confused me a bit at first. Halfway through the b More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 09, 2011

Kim rated it:

This book is very hard to describe and still give it full justice. Fantasy, mystery, time-travel, magic, for mature readers. In an unknown time, magic was forbidden in the world, yet its revival was inevitable. This is a place where wizards are born--though don't expect anything remotely resembling Harry Potter. At this school, talk amongst students is forbidden, in case one may try to help another learn each lesson. The teachers are cruel, except for Franklin, but he's under strict surveillance More...

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May 14, 2009

Ali rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 28, 2009

Aerin rated it:

DO NOT READ THIS BOOK.

YET.

For those of you who don't know, I have a rule that I neither buy, check out, borrow or otherwise read books whose sequels have not been published. I just get too darn impatient for the continuation of the series.

Well, I did not realize that Skin Hunger is a trilogy. Yes, it says so right on the book. Yes, I really can read. But I didn't. Big mistake.

Skin Hunger tells two stories, alternating chapter to chapter betwee More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 18, 2009

Melody rated it:

Original review below- stet. Re-read because I have the sequel in my hands.

Very strong fantasy. I loved Duey's alternate take on wizard school. Her writing puts me in mind of Le Guin- spare, lean and powerful. What she doesn't say is easily as important as what she does. The world is believable, the characters sympathetic. It's clearly only part of a story, the first in a planned trilogy. I'll be reading the rest, no doubt. Recommended.

4 comments like (1 person liked it)

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